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Assumption,
West Barsham

It was with some surprise that I came to the
Assumption, because unlike virtually every other church
for miles around, it is set in a trim bowling green of a
graveyard in a neat little estate village. One gets so
used to the Walsingham area churches having a sense of
antiquity, as if it was only the power of prayer that was
keeping it up, that it felt odd to be standing beside
this tiny one which could have been turned out crisp from
the oven that morning.

The
Assumption is, I am afraid to say, quite different from
all the other churches around here for another reason -
it is kept locked. I could not think of any earthly
reason for this to be so. Perhaps the parish do not feel
that they need the power of prayer. I have since been
told that there is a key, and that it is at the estate
office. Unfortunately, I did not know this at the time,
because there is no notice in the porch telling you so.
To all intents and purposes, this is an inaccessible
building, a dead church in the land of the living.

The vast
majority of the gravestones here were removed in the
1960s to make it easier to cut the grass. So, goodbye
several centuries of history. The ones that were kept
concern the family who live at the Hall, who presumably
had the loudest voices. Ho hum.

I
was disappointed. I expected better of this part
of Norfolk. Through the window I could see the
20th century animal bench ends for which the
church is famous, and the mawkish, ugly Margaret
Tarrant north chancel window featuring a young
girl with lambs. I would have liked to have seen
both of them more closely, but that wasn't
possible. I managed a shot of the window, but
good samaritan Peter Stephens kindly came to my
rescue with a few more shots, which you can see
below.

Wandering around the outside, there
are two Saxon-style splayed round windows above
the north door, so this is an ancient place. I do
wish they would keep it open, though.